Coppin State University head men’s basketball coach Michael Grant has named Keith Brown as an assistant coach on his staff. Brown comes to the Eagles from Mount St. Mary’s where he served as the special assistant to the head men’s basketball coach during the 2015-16 year.
“Keith will bring a lot of experience to our staff,” said Grant. “He has come from some great programs and I am looking forward to working with him.” Coach Grant and the Coppin State men’s basketball program are coming off a 9-22 season a year ago and advanced to the quarterfinals round of the 2016 MEAC Basketball Tournament for the second straight season.
As the special assistant to the head coach at Mount St. Mary’s, Brown analyzed team performance at both practices and in games. He also advanced large data sets to aid the coaching staff scouting reports and utilized analytics to enhance the team performance. The Mount finished 14-19 during his tenure and made it to the NEC Conference Tournament semifinals.
Prior to his stint with the Mount, Brown spent six seasons at Nevada where he helped coach the team to the 2012 Western Athletic Conference title. He was also instrumental in helping the Pack earn bids to the 2010 and 2012 National Invitation Tournaments. In 2012, the Wolf Pack finished with a 28-7 record in 2012. The 28 wins is tied for the second best win total in school history.
Under his coaching all five Pack starters earned postseason honors during the 2011-12 season with sophomore Deonte Burton being named the WAC Player of the Year. It is the second time that a Pack player grabbed the Player of the Year honor during his tenure as Luke Babbitt won the award in 2010.
Babbitt and guard Armon Johnson are two Nevada players that Brown coached and both were drafted by the NBA in 2010. Babbitt was a first round selection and Johnson was taken in the second round with both players going to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Burton signed as a free agent with the Sacramento Kings and ended his Nevada career second in scoring with 2,102 points and assists with 515. He was named the All-MW, NABC District 17 and USBWA District VIII first teams.
While at Seattle, Brown helped the Redhawks to a 21-8 record his last year, the team’s most victories since 1984-85. Prior to that, Brown also spent four seasons from 2002-06 as an assistant coach at the University of Portland. While at Portland, he helped guard Eugene Jeter become the second-leading scorer in school history and earn first-team All-West Coast Conference honors in 2004 and 2006, while Jeter and fellow guard Donald Wilson became the second-highest scoring tandem in Pilot history.
A Los Angeles native, Brown was an assistant coach at El Camino College in Torrance, Calif., from 1998-2002 and spent three years as an assistant varsity coach at Inglewood (Calif.) High School. He also worked with AAU programs in Portland and Washington, D.C.
Brown played at El Camino College from 1988-90 where he helped his team to a pair of California Community College Final Four appearances. He also played for one season at Hampton University in Hampton, Va., from 1991-92. He played varsity basketball at St. Bernard High School in Playa Del Rey, Calif.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology from Hampton University in 1993 and his master’s of education with an emphasis in physical education from Azusa Pacific University in 2000.
Brown and his wife, Robyne, have two daughters, Kennedy and Kensley.
